I had a real gigantic mental moment on Friday. I didn't invent something new or finish a gigantic project, nor was I visited by some higher power. I took two pieces of information that previously resided in my head and connected them. They were both there for weeks, waiting to be moved close enough together to interact, and when they did, I had a moment of clarity. Frontier 5, the best dual platform web content management system, has been available for both Macintosh and 32 bit Windows OS`s for a couple of weeks now. While Frontier 5 was in development, I avoided it. Beta's were posted, but I didn't download them. No time to play with beta software. I stepped up to the plate this week. Working diligently this weekend, I have begun the task of bringing Bump into the Frontier enviroment. It`s gonna be great when it is done.
On Friday, I got a new Windows NT tower on my desk at work. For the first time ever in my life, I have the opportunity to work with Windows and Macintosh computers in the same ability range. Its eye opening to see what NT does better than the Mac and vice versa. (That is a subject for another essay.) Suddenly, I am checking my checkbook to see if I can afford the same setup at home.(I can't) For the first time in my desktop computing life, there is no longer an other side of the fence. I see things as they are.
My web server (I am the administrator as well as the content builder) is also a Windows NT box. I have dedicated a ton of time over the last two months porting our interactive content and moving it from an out-of-house UNIX box to the NT box. In the process, I learned ColdFusion and its markup language, CFML. Frontier previously existed in my mind as a client side only tool. Suddenly, on Friday, I put together the fact that it is capable of many of the server side cartwheels I need it for too. Simple connection, but it blew my mind that I had previously missed it.
The Frontier 5 Release is Available: I'm playing with it now. Due to various outside commitments, I will not be able to do much with the new version for a few days.
Got lots of intent to post and very little free time to do it in.
Finally, the light at the end of my huge server conversion project is in sight. I will be in testing today and tommorrow, and will then be going live(I hope.)
ColdFusion from Allaire is a great tool if you have your own Windows NT or Solaris based server. Using it to tie my web pages to things like databases and mail servers has made my life much easier over the last week.
Best of all, if you already are familiar with HTML and Javascript, the syntax is simple.
P.S. I hope to get out sometime in the next week and actually get things like my brother's band posted to this site.
Spending the day today tidying up my CPU and office in anticipation of the release of Mac OS 8.1. New file format and all.
Things here at the laboratory are stressful, and I imagine that I will be launching some new features here at Bump and trying to promote the site a little.
I am also going to bring some of my Javascript stylings to these pages in the next two weeks.
The IconFactory has been producing very high quality icons for a long time now. Yesterday, they released a set of South Park Icons. These are worth downloading.
Well, I went to MacWorld Expo SF 1998, and have now returned to work and gotten over the return jet lag. MacWorld was fun and interesting. I purchased a pass-through box so I can now watch cable on my monitor at home while working on web pages.
I am currently in the process of figuring out what my goals for 1998 are. There are so many technologies that I want to learn that I am having a hard time choosing which one to concentrate on first. I think for the time being that I will be going back to basics and working on my design skills as well as my knowledge of HTML 4.0, 3.2, and 3.0. Other technologies and pieces of software I plan on getting to in 1998 are XML, Javascript 1.2, Some preliminary Java work, Frontier, ColdFusion, Cascading Style Sheets, DHTML, better my PERL understanding, and a large concentration on imaging technologies. I have made myself a computer software/equipment budget, and I plan on buying a new workstation(PROBABLY A UNIX BOX!!), A faster Internet connection, a DV camera, and a CD writer. If you stumble across this page, please recommend!!
Feeling better, and looking forward to the extra time I am going to have this week to work on my own projects. I started by moving the November stuff from this page to its own page. I updated the movie section with some information on The Empire Strikes Back. I am going to do some work on the Music pages today.
I've been playing around more seriously with Frontier 5, but I want to wait until I am fully confident in it to implement it here.
I joined a Myth: The Fallen Lords Order named the Arch Mages of the Tower (How old am I?), but my ranking has dropped 400 places in the last three days.
I can't believe that I haven't been updating this site being that one of my pet peeves is a lack of updates.
I have been continuing to work on porting our sites at work over to the new server. Been rewriting a lot of PERL scripts in both Javascript and PERL for NT. NT may be cheaper up front, but you give up some things that I have taken for granted serving the sites with UNIX. (mailto)
I've also been sick this week for three days. Old sinuses acting up again. Feeling a little better now. I really have to do some updating this weekend.
Okay, so five days have gone by and no content changes. This has happened for two very distinct reasons.
I have started playing multiplayer Myth: The Fallen Lords over at bungie.net I am addicted. I want to be in the top hundred this week.
I have decided that I will not add more content to the induvidual sections until I have implemented Frontier 5 Version a22 for the Macintosh was released this morning.
There is a lot of talk about XML going on. I expect that I will be making the rounds tonight and posting what I find.
You can expect some serious content revisions here over the next two days. I plan on moving all of the QuickTime 3.0 information over to a new page, adding reviews to all of the induvidual sections, and archiving the November journal entries. Seems that there are a few of you reading this page daily now. I will spend this morning picking up a tuxedo for a Christmas party tonight. After that, you can expect the code to fly.
After burning the midnight oil arguing interface philosophy with my cat, I am on the coffee horse and typing like a crazed fanatic.
QuickTime 3.0 beta(This link is to Apple's Preview Page) is pretty interesting. For a long time I've felt that the best minds at Apple were on QuickTime development, and they continue to prove me correct. I will definitely be doing my first software review for this site on it, so check back.
I also meant to mention GUI Junky, an interface hacking site that looks like it might pick up where MacOver faded...
I will begin porting all of my pages at work over to a new server this weekend. If anyone has any suggestions on moving from UNIX to Windows NT(Netscape Enterprise 3) feel free to drop me a line. I will post any experiences I have to share.
I'm pretty sure that this page represents the look and feel I will be using. Still a lot of loose ends that need to be taken care of. If you actually see this page and have an opinion, please let me know.
I expect that I will have at least half of the new content up by the end of the weekend. I have just finished building and uploading the basic site structure.
After a healthy Thanksgiving break, we here at Bump Industries are hard at work improving our service to you.
I had to reformat my drives and re-install everything. Annoying at the very least. If you use a Macintosh, and do not already use Version Tracker, you need to check it out. It has saved my butt more than once.
People really need to take a moment and consider whether they effectively communicate.
On a lighter note, I went out to dinner last night after work and had a great time.
I haven't told you all about Cool Tool of the Day yet. This is a great site where they(generally) showcase a new piece of software every day. Being the doodad hound that I am, I have found this site invaluable to my quest.
My eyes are killing me and I still have to turn out HTML. I'm about to make the transition at work from outsourced UNIX based hosting to my very own Windows NT/Netscape Enterprise Server. If you know anything that would be useful to me, I'd love to hear it.
Great article in Webmonkey today on Frontier(see below).
Despite the fact that I cannot implement Frontier here at work, I still plan on doing so with Bump.
I plan on doing the major site revision over the holiday weekend, but you can still look for revised links page before then.
Everyone has an opinion on this, but the one that made me the angriest was David Winer's. Here is this guy that has developed this incredible piece of newly crossplatform software. He is using his web site to justify a pro-Microsoft opinion. What makes me angry is that what he is asking for(and what he is using to justify his opinion, need not take the form of Internet Explorer. Anyone who won't admit that Microsoft has engaged in uncompetitive behavior is deluding him/herself. Period.
My day gig is developing sites. No time for fooling around with new technology. After an hour with Frontier 4.2.3 and its online documentation tonight, and I feel a renaissance about to occur here at the Bump clubhouse. This site may not be made with Frontier today, but check back tommorrow.
I am an interface addict. That is to say that I can spend hours of precious productivity deciding how I want my desktop to look. I hoard Kaleidoscopeschemes on zip cartridges desperately seeking desktop nirvana.
Designer's Studio 1.1 is the first step towards giving the power to the people. No arcane resource editing by candlelight here. Check it out.
Once again I stay awake bleary eyed and ready to collapse. As if working a ten hour day is not enough.
Welcome to my homepage. I begin operations today using my personal web space and no domain name. I will change the site name when I have the time. My mission statement with this site is to give the surfer something that I have found in my surfing that is worth exploring. I will try and update the site every day if possible. For the first couple of weeks, I will spotlight a different site that I have an affinity for and want you all to see. Assuming that there are any of you to see it.
I spent most of the evening tonight working on the site. I decided to go conservative with the overall look for now. My computer's a wreck, and I am doing this instead of doing the re-install tha needs to be done.
